This article is from: Gazettengr, original author: Ahmed Oluwasanjo

Odaily Planet Daily Translator | Moni

On the last day of February, a piece of news related to Binance caught the attention of the crypto community - the West African country Nigeria demanded Binance to compensate $10 billion. However, according to the latest news, it seems that there has been a reversal in this matter. What exactly happened behind the scenes?

Next, Odaily Planet Daily will take you through the causes and consequences.

Timeline of Binance vs. Nigeria Incident

• On February 28, Reuters revealed that two senior executives of Binance were detained in Nigeria. Sources disclosed that these executives flew to Nigeria after the country decided to ban multiple cryptocurrency trading platforms last week, but they were detained by the country's National Security Adviser's office, and their passports were confiscated.

• On February 29, several local media reported that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, stated that last year, $26 billion worth of untraceable funds flowed through Binance Nigeria. Nigeria is facing a foreign exchange crisis and is seeking ways to restrict capital outflows, as the local currency, the Naira, hit a historic low on Wednesday. In addition to taking measures such as taxing foreign workers, the recent call to restrict the country's cryptocurrency has made headlines, and the country will prevent users from accessing certain cryptocurrency exchanges - including Binance.

• In fact, Nigeria has been a rapid adopter of cryptocurrency, but due to the issue of fund tracing, the services of some exchanges have caused headaches for the country's regulatory agencies. Local media Nairametrics reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria is collaborating with multiple government agencies and the police to further investigate the flow of these funds. As early as 2023, Binance and an entity named "Binance Nigeria Limited" had been warned by the country's securities regulatory agency for "illegal activities."

• On March 1, BBC's report intensified the entire situation, stating that Bayo Onanuga, media adviser to the Nigerian President, demanded that Binance pay at least $10 billion in compensation. This demand was made against the backdrop of Nigeria's crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges and the devaluation of the country's currency. He also stated that if Binance does not stop, it will destroy the Nigerian economy because of arbitrarily fixing the foreign exchange rate.

• On the same day, Binance removed the Nigerian currency Naira from its peer-to-peer (P2P) function.

Major Reversal? Nigeria Changes Its Tune: "We Never Said the Fine for Binance Was $10 Billion"

Just after several media reported that it would be fined $10 billion in Nigeria, a response from He Yi, co-founder of Binance, began circulating in the community, which read: "Who's worth $10 billion?"

Soon, it seemed that there was a reversal in the situation.

According to the latest news from local media Gazettengr, Binance stated last Friday that it had not negotiated any fines of up to $10 billion with the Nigerian government. This is clearly contradictory to the report by BBC. An unnamed official from the exchange said:

"We recently discussed ways to resolve the issue with Nigeria, but we have not heard any demand for $10 billion."

"Interestingly," it seems that Binance is not in the mood to discuss paying high fines to the Nigerian government to restore recently severed services or to release executives detained for alleged market manipulation. Instead, the Binance official added:

"Binance's goal is to build a good relationship with the Nigerian government and people, and hopes to see services in Nigeria restored soon, but we have no intention of paying fines for personnel or services."

What happened next made the onlookers surprised.

Bayo Onanuga, media adviser to the Nigerian President, urgently clarified that his statement to the BBC had been distorted by the British media, and he never said that the company had been informed or that the Nigerian regulatory agency had decided on a fine. Bayo Onanuga explained:

"I said that the Nigerian government might impose a huge fine on Binance for what happened, but I never said that Binance had been informed of the fine, nor did I say that the amount of the fine was definitely $10 billion. I just said that a certain amount of fine might be imposed, because everything has not been finally determined." (Bayo Onanuga repeatedly emphasized the uncertainty of the fine.)

It is worth mentioning that, although it is currently unclear what measures Binance has taken to release its personnel, according to Bayo Onanuga, the detained "Binance employees have cooperated with the Nigerian government to provide information."

In summary, the "Nigeria will impose a $10 billion fine on Binance" is likely to be a major misunderstanding, and the misreporting by BBC has led to misinformation, after all - "Who's worth $10 billion?"

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